When officers arrived, they found a man on the roof and a brief standoff began when they said he refused to come down.

In a news release, the Durham Police Department said 25-year-old Brendan Phillip Cannell of Chapel Hill's "actions led officers to believe he was posing a potential imminent deadly threat; therefore, shots were fired at the suspect." Police didn't say what Cannell was allegedly doing.

People staying in a hotel across the street reported hearing gunshots.

"I heard some man shouting very loud and very angry," nearby resident Dorothy Hermanni said. "And then okay I thought, 'okay, there's maybe some, something going on and I didn't recognize it so much.' Then they shout again. And then there were about like say 10 or 12 very loud shots."

People who hear shootings can sometimes be mistaken about the number of shots, but others who also heard it and saw the commotion are adamant that at least 10 shots were fired.